CT 2017 – DAY 13 – Toronto (Day Off) – August 28

We had decided to sleep in, sort of, and head into the downtown core via the Subway. From there, we’d do some exploring and wander around. I took ten of our vinyl to shop around to local record shops. Victoria and Patrick woke up sooner so they left about twenty minutes before Alea and I. Breakfast was quiet. Victoria called during breakfast to tell Alea that she was a tad lost and didn’t know how to get onto the train or something. We soon grabbed some change and began our walk down to the station about fifteen minutes away. It was a short walk inside to get to the platform. We threw our change in a token machine and one tiny coin popped out. Threw it in the turnstile and no ticket came out, I grew nervous. I didn’t want to get checked and have nothing to prove my entry but worst of all, I wouldn’t be able to take the bus or anything to get around. I guess it was all feet for me. The subway was silver and wide, very official and daunting. It wasn’t as rickety as the skytrain and it was driven by a person. I was momentarily confused by the route system of the train but clued in pretty quickly. Alea knew where to go as well. We got off at Dundas, right in Eaton Centre. To my disappointment, not only was the mall underwhelming but when we walked out onto the street, I couldn’t believe it. Instead of the fisheye lens spinning blur that the movies portrayed of this area, and what I’d heard from others, it was almost a carbon copy of the feeling of downtown Granville Street in Vancouver, at least to me. Not knowing what to do, but happy to get some space, we walked to a street corner and googled. Patrick showed up out of nowhere and came with us. We took a peak in Urban Outfitters. Stopped in front of Massey Hall on our way to a record shop, Kops Records. I picked up The Wild Hunt, Where Do My Bluebirds Fly and Head On A Door before asking about consignment. The person at the counter’s name was Amy. I spoke with her for a few, learned their policy and went outside to talk with the others about it. Alea went into the Ollie Quinn and picked up a cleaning cloth, I popped into Steve’s Music Store. We sort of lost each other after that. I was on my own with a heavy bag of records so I made my way to Sonic Boom Records a little ways down. I perused, bought the Leonard Cohen record and spoke to the consignment guy, Cameron Brown. I probably talked too much, but he seemed decently excited about the album. After a bit of chatting and feeling good about dropping it off with him, I gave him two and I bought his tape. My credit card has been racking up though, so I’m going to have to take it easy for a while. Hopefully me talking about our similar interests, the Orchid Tapes community, and our music will make an impact. I told Alea several times via text while I was in the store that I would meet up with them for food. I just wouldn’t stop talking with Cameron and time was passing. They eventually went out and met up with Victoria for food. I then called to relay what happened at the store and my plan. I went back to Kops, where I met Amy and chatted even more with her and her friend. Talked about the record a bit, about ICP and the cities we live in. Made a good connection, they were good people. I took a picture outside with Amy for the social medias and went on my way. Checked out a few venues in the area, popping my head in the door, looked into record shops. Went down to a place called Black Market that had $10 for anything in the store, curated hipster clothing. It was so packed. The record shop inside seemed to specialize in oldie music. So I left pretty quickly. My body was becoming sore from walking around and carrying a lot. I decided to head to the record shop I missed near The Painted Lady the other day despite the hour round trip. It was supposed to be open but the shop said closed when I got there. So I indulged in the pizza place I ate at on the show day and began my trek back. Phone battery almost dead, I kept trying to communicate with the others but they all had different ideas and different eating schedules. So I basically wandered and checked out random shops until it was time to meet up at Kensington Market. I wandered with 1% battery life through the city into Chinatown which was large and wide. Much unlike Vancouver’s Chinatown. In a lot of body pain and no phone, I walked by souvenir store after souvenir store, bakery after dollar store until I reached Kensington Market. Saw a sign and followed the alley that I was not expecting. It’s such a small underwhelming area. I anticipated far more. Walking around, I passed by most stores and didn’t see any of the others. I popped into a random shop that had a pile of things out front and a pile of things inside but there were unusual instruments in the window so I was intrigued. Inside the pile was heaped with cheap violins, guitars, drum and tambourines, even a guitar shaped like a shamrock. As I was leaving, the gentleman who ran the store with his wife invited me inside again and picked up a singing bowl. He showed me how it worked, handed it to me. No luck. He picked up a bigger one and did the same. When I got it to work, he joined in with the other. The sound was loud, filling the room with an open drone. He didn’t push me to buy it, though I wanted it. He closed his eyes and breathed as I made the sound. I felt a lift in my chest​ and head from the sound. Fascinating to say the least. Maybe one day. I wandered back outside and Alea called my name out of a cafe, they were all in there regrouped, eating gelato. I left my things with them and went out to find food. I stopped by a bakery with sweets and pork buns. It was so cheap and so tempting. I really should have bought a lot more. I wasn’t thinking. I bought coconut buns for us all and when I came back, finally having eaten and a bit more revitalized, we decided to head back to the house. We walked back to the Queen Subway Station. Patrick walked straight onto the subway without us, we wouldn’t have made it at our pace. We laughed hysterically, he turned around as the door closed and realized that we didn’t make it on. He got on our train at the next stop and said it was our fault, jokingly. We went to Whole Foods after we got off the train. Alea and Victoria were hungry. They both spent an arm and a leg at the delicious food bar. We walked back to the house loose and tired. I put on Monday Night Raw and did some computer work when we got back. Texted my dad, sent some emails. It got pretty late and I can’t remember exactly what happened but I remember eventually lying down and being on my phone a bit before falling asleep.